


What's the Difference Between a Lie and a Truth?

by Lily_Star



Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson
Genre: M/M, Pining, Rated T for swearing, fake dating au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 17:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18761149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Star/pseuds/Lily_Star
Summary: The Joxter guesses wrong and Snufkin doesn't have the heart to correct him.





	What's the Difference Between a Lie and a Truth?

It was a wonderful summer day in Moomin Valley. The sun was high in the sky and shone through the treetops, leaving small dots of sunlight scattered across the forest that was alive with animals busying themselves with their day’s tasks and greenery that thrived in the daylight. It was the kind of day where a bird song sounds like the melody of relaxation, accompanied only by the sound of a harmonica that did its best to harmonize with them.

 

Moomin and Snufkin were sitting down beneath a tree together, only a couple of feet away from the bridge that led to Moomin’s home. The two were also leaning on each other slightly, a fact Snufkin had convinced himself that it was only because Moomin was much softer than the bark of the tree behind them. At least Moomin didn’t have any complaints about it. He was probably too busy watching the clouds move and change shape above them. Snufkin continued playing along with the songbirds, purposely distracting his mind from the butterflies in his stomach.

 

It had been a long while of peaceful silence, enough time for Moomin’s legs to go sore from sitting cross-legged for who-knows how long. As Moomin stretched his legs out in front of him and Snufkin's song came to a slow end, Moomin decided to break the quiet with some conversation.

 

“Say, Snufkin,” Moomin asked as he hugged his legs back in and rested his head on them, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

 

“Hm?” Snufkin hummed curiously, putting his harmonica down into his lap.

 

“How’s the Joxter been? Are you two getting along ok?”

 

Snufkin had almost forgotten about those worries. Snufkin had always wanted to know more about his parents and listening to Moominpappa’s Memoir was a godsend. However, Snufkin never thought he’d ever actually get to meet the Joxter in person. But then, early in the spring and shortly after Snufkin had returned from his winter adventure, the Moomin family and Little My were surprised to have found the Joxter taking a nap in the Moomin family’s living room.

 

_ After Moominpappa had greeted his old friend fondly and introduced him to his wife and child he had told Moomin to invite Snufkin over for a surprise. When Snufkin arrived to Moominhouse Moominpappa immediately began introducing the two formally. When Snufkin realized that the stranger was the Joxter, A.K.A his father, his heart nearly stopped. When Moominpappa casually slipped in the fact that Snufkin was, in fact, Joxter’s son it looked like the Joxter’s heart had almost stopped too. The two exchanged an awkward hug, feeling like it was appropriate, and tried to initiate in even more awkward conversation. It was just... awkward. _

 

_ Moominmamma, the blessing that she is, helped by offering the two to stay for dinner and talk about their respective journeys, offering it as an icebreaker. The two mumriks immediately said “yes please” in unison, getting a chuckle out of Moominpappa. As they all sat down at the table, Snufkin was running a million questions through his head. Where was he? Did he know Snufkin existed before today? Why or Why Not? However, Snufkin couldn’t get a single question out because he was getting ridiculously anxious trying to decide whether or not to call him a variation of “dad” or just “Joxter.” Luckily, Moomin stepped in for him with the question asking, almost knowingly so. Moomin asked Joxter about his travels, wondering about where he’s been all these years. _

 

_ The Joxter went into what was seemingly supposed to be a brief explanation, mentioning how he had travelled the sea a couple of times, went to new lands, fought a couple of park keepers and- _

 

_ Snufkin stopped him there, wanting to know more about his fights against the park keepers and asking him about how he did it. The Joxter had smiled and asked Snufkin why he wanted to know so badly about his anti-park keeper missions. Snufkin got nervous again, about to say something along the lines of “just because” until Little My interrupted him, asking Snufkin to tell his father about the time they tazed that one Park Keeper with hattifatteners and got Moomin and Snorkmaiden arrested for it. Joxter chuckled happily, asking how Snufkin managed that one. _

 

_ Snufkin took the opportunity to take back his confidence, telling the Joxter all about how he managed to find hattifattener seeds on midsummer night, with Little My’s help of course and used them to electrify the park keeper. Then the Joxter made some comparisons to the time he took a park keeper down with a wild pack of butterflies, getting a laugh from everyone at the table when he mentioned how the park keeper fell head first into a thorn bush. _

 

After that things went just a little more smoothly. Just a little though. It’s awfully too awkward to be considered a father-son relationship but it’s… progressing. A few days after that dinner Snufkin and Joxter had steadily started to hang out more often, albeit they were never alone. They often hung out when there were other people but neither was sure whether or not it was because they’re not ready for one-on-one time without everything going awkward, despite their obvious similarities, or simply coincidence. So far, most of their bonding time was spent with the Moomin family, mostly because Joxter was already best friends with Moominpappa and they would spend time reminiscing about the good ol’ days and Snufkin adored spending time with Moomintroll (why he loves hanging out with Moomintroll is always promptly ignored in his head, hoping the feeling would disintegrate with time).

 

So far the best moment was when they went with Little My to the forest to explore where Joxter said he had found “the perfect tree.” It turned out to be just a regular old pine tree that was slightly taller than the other ones in the forest. Nonetheless, the three had climbed to the top and looked over Moomin valley from there while the sun was still high in the sky. Snufkin probably would’ve enjoyed the experience more if Little My wouldn’t have kept teasing him about whether or not he could see Moomin from all the way up here with his quote-en-quote “loverboy eyes.” He was just thankful Little My kept her voice down around the Joxter. As much as he was getting to know the Joxter, Snufkin didn’t think they were at that point where his dad got to know about his crushes. If ever. Snufkin was planning on taking that little secret to his grave.

 

“I… I think it’s been going good. I will admit though, it’s been tough wrapping my head around meeting him after all these years.”

 

“Of course, I’d imagine it must be… odd, for lack of a better word.”

 

Snufkin chuckled at that.

 

“Yeah, it  _ is _ a tough situation to describe,” Snufkin said as he fiddled with the harmonica in his hands, “but at least it’s getting better.”

 

“That’s good to hear!” Moomin said cheerfully, happily resting his hands on Snufkin’s knee, “I’m happy for you!”

 

“Thank you,” Snufkin said as he chuckled at Moomin’s excitement. A blush rose up onto his face as he felt the comfortable weight of Moomin’s hand rest on his knee.

 

However, before Snufkin could make another comment, the two heard a voice yelling from Moominhouse.

 

“MOOMIN!” Little My screamed from the porch and waving her hand, “SUPPER!”

 

“Oh, guess I got to go,” Moomin said.

 

“Guess so.”

 

“Do you want to come and see if Mamma made any extra for you?”

 

Snufkin considered the offer for a second. On one hand, Moominmamma’s cooking was amazing and Snufkin hadn’t gone fishing lately so he had no clue if he has anything to eat tonight. On the other hand, though, Snufkin’s cheeks felt like they were going to burn off if he spent any more time with Moomin and he knew Little My would inevitably make a comment on it. Snufkin decided he’d rather starve for the day than confront his feelings anytime soon.

 

“No thank you, Moomin,” Snufkin said as he patted the hand on his knee, “I should probably go tend to my camp now, it’s been too long since I last checked up on it. I just hope no animals have gotten into it,”

 

Moomin nodded understandably, lifting himself up to a standing position and finally taking his hand away from Snufkin. Snufkin hated how he missed it.

 

“Alright, will I see you tomorrow then?” Moomin asked as he stretched out from sitting for so long.

 

“Of course, Moomin.”

 

Moomin smiled and turned to walk home, waving goodbye to Snufkin from over his shoulder.

 

Snufkin watched Moomin as he walked over the bridge and up to his house where the family was preparing for dinner out on their porch. Snufkin gripped his hand over his heart in a futile attempt to slow it down. Snufkin hated this so,  _ so _ much. Yet, despite how much his heart was beating as if to demand him to confront these emotions, Snufkin simply gripped his harmonica tightly and stood up to head to his tent. As Snufkin stretched his back out he heard a noise from somewhere nearby in the forest, the telltale sound of moving leaves.

 

Snufkin paused for a moment, his ears open for the sound repeating itself. When no noise came, Snufkin let go of his breath and moved to leave again. This time, something had fallen out of the branches above him and landed maybe an inch away from him. Snufkin reacted by letting out a scream and tripping over his feet, landing on his ass as he sputtered out nonsense. Snufkin could hear the Joxter’s laughter before he finally processed seeing him.

 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” the Joxter said between chuckles, reaching his hand out to offer Snufkin help standing back up.

 

“It’s okay…” Snufkin’s voice trailed off, still unsure whether to address him as “Joxter” or a version of “dad.” Snufkin was just hoping that his avoidance of addressing the Joxter by a name wasn’t  _ too _ rude of him.

 

Snufkin reached up and grabbed the Joxter’s hand, using it to pull himself up off the ground and proceeded to dust off his clothes.

 

“What were you doing up in the trees anyway?” Snufkin asked.

 

“Well, I was sleeping soundly up there until your wonderful music had woken me up a while ago,” the Joxter explained, “I would’ve let you know I was up there sooner but I didn’t feel like interrupting you and Moomintroll’s conversation.”

 

When the Joxter said that last bit he got a weird look in his eyes, almost like a sly smirk. It was one of those looks you gave someone to let them know they knew a secret of yours. Snufkin simply raised a confused eyebrow to him. He only had the one secret and could only pray that his father hasn’t picked up in it. Then, his eyes went wide with shock when he realized something.

 

“Were you eavesdropping on us?” Snufkin asked.

 

“Not on purpose. But, then again, I’ve always felt like the best conversations are the ones you weren’t meant to hear. It’s a great way to learn new things.”

 

“I can’t argue with that,” Snufkin mumbled, “but what could you have possibly learned from us?”

 

“Just the two things, really.”

 

“Oh? Do tell,” Snufkin said as he crossed his arms with interest.

 

“Well, for starters, I was very relieved when you mentioned how things were getting better between us! I was very worried about this whole situation!”

 

“Oh, really?” Snufkin said, surprised his father was worried about their bond as well. The Joxter simply nodded in response.

 

Still, Snufkin’s eyebrows furrowed. He was a little underwhelmed by the Joxter finding that out considering he had done nothing to hide it but the Joxter did say he learned another thing.

 

“What of the second piece of information?” Snufkin asked, hoping it would be another underwhelming thing. There couldn’t be anything worse than his own father pointing out his perhaps not so secretive feelings.

 

“Oh,” Joxter said, that sly smirk coming back to his face, “I learned something quite… lovely.”

 

Oh, great. The “L” word. Love. The Joxter probably figured it out. Snufkin’s heart dropped to his stomach as he realized how screwed he was. Now he was going to have two family members that teased about these stupid, stupid feelings. Snufkin felt like burying himself in the dirt right there and then. It couldn’t get worse than this.

 

“Really?” Snufkin squeaked out, gripping his arms to resist the urge to pull his hat over his face.

 

“Why yes! I learned that you… have a significant other.”

 

Snufkin’s heart paused for a moment as a sense of confusion washed over him, cancelling every other emotion.

 

“I have a what?” Snufkin asked, hoping he heard wrong.

 

“A significant other!” The Joxter repeated, “I could see you and Moomin’s love from miles away!”

 

Oh.

 

OH.

 

_ OH NO. _

 

Snufkin’s eyes went wide as his father’s words processed through his mind. Oh, this was so much worse than his father finding out he had a crush. The poor fool thought they were already dating!

 

“Wh-No-How?” Snufkin stuttered out, a million questions running through his mind as a blush covered every inch of his face.

 

“Simple, really. You remind me so much of myself from back when I became infatuated with your mother!” The Joxter explained.

 

“Okay, but we’re not-”

 

“How come you hadn’t told me earlier?” The Joxter interrupted.

 

Snufkin’s mind blue screened for what felt like hours, although it was probably only a few seconds. The only thing Snufkin could notice was how  _ proud _ the Joxter was. He couldn’t quite tell if it was because he thought his son had found someone or because Snufkin was reminding him of himself, perhaps a little bit of both. Snufkin didn’t feel like disappointing him by telling him he was wrong.

 

“We…. were…. going to. Tell you.” Snufkin said slowly, thinking over each individual word.

 

The Joxter raised an eyebrow.

 

“Oh really?” He said, catching on that Snufkin was lying about  _ something. _

 

“Yes!” Snufkin said, turning his last bit of dignity into false confidence, “it’s just that we haven’t told a lot of people yet! It’s… a very new thing.”

 

“Ah, that makes sense. How new?”

 

Oh, about the last minute or so.

 

“Just a couple of days. Neither of us feels like rushing anything though so we haven’t announced it yet.”

 

“Of course! You never struck me as someone who rushes anything.”

 

Snufkin simply nodded, his eyes already drifting away from the Joxter’s. Snufkin’s told a million lies before but none of them made him guilty enough to break eye contact until now.

 

“I-If you’d excuse me,” Snufkin tried not to flinch when he stuttered, “I should really go talk with Moomintroll now and… let him know that you know, y’ know?”

 

The Joxter chuckled.

 

“Of course, of course, I won’t keep you longer… and I won’t eavesdrop this time.”

 

Thank god.

 

“Thank you, dad.”

 

Snufkin stiffened a little. Snufkin was still trying to avoid addressing his father as anything but had accidentally just let the word “dad” fall from his lips. He blushed with embarrassment as the Joxter smiled softly in return.

 

“No problem, son,” the Joxter said as he turned to walk away, saluting goodbye over his shoulder.

 

Snufkin stood there for a few moments as he watched his father disappear into the woods, his hands nervously balled up in fists. He felt like he should be happy they were getting more connected, finally addressing one another as father and son respectively. Snufkin just wishes he didn’t just need to lie to keep the Joxter’s spirits up.

 

Snufkin sighed deeply and looked over to the Moominhouse where he could see the trolls + Little My eating dinner on their porch. He could see all four of them were laughing about what Moominpappa had just said, Moomintroll almost slipping off his chair from his laughter. Snufkin’s heart skipped a beat just looking at him being oh, so happy.

 

How in the world was he going to tell Moomintroll about the lies he just told? Snufkin was positive his heart wouldn’t survive that conversation.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment or come visit me at https://lilystar244.tumblr.com/ ! I'm always happy to hear from you folks :D !!!


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